Yeah, He Can Shake It!!!!

It's been a long while since i've written on my blog. I've often thought about what i need to post on here, but just haven't gotten around to it. I think it's funny that this is the post that i felt had to be shared with the world.

I went dancing the other night for the first time in what seems like a really long time. In the midst of having fun and letting myself start to loosen up and dance, a certain skilled dancer comes to mind time and again.

"The Carlton Dance" should be a regular tool in any dancer's repertoire. While most are familiar with the hilarity of the dancing of Carlton Banks, played by Alonso Ribeiro, on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, not everyone is aware of his dancing expertise.

Here's a compilation of "The Carlton Dance"


For the ill-informed, Carlton loves the singer Tom Jones, who's song "It's Not Unusual" was Carlton's song of choice. I'd like to point out here that Tom Jones is Welsh. Tom Jones has an incredible voice and was obviously really hot when he was young.



I'm half Welsh, which, by default, means my voice is pretty good and i'm kinda hot.

While being the originator of "The Carlton Dance" is incredible in and of itself, I'd like to point out that 'Carlton' is a much better dancer than that. Alonso Ribeiro was a star dancer as a child, appearing on commercials, TV specials, and more. I love it that his dorky character could move like this. I could seriously watch these clips all day, laughing all the while.

And you know i can dance like that.

You Should See Me Move!!!

well....... it happened. i packed up my little VW golf with lots of clothes and other interesting things and headed north in good company. the first few days were packed full and went by rather quickly. it's monday, raining, cold, and it's starting to sink in that i'm here for real. i'm working on finding an apartment/room, which is the next step. i'm enjoying being here, though it feels a little weird to be back in this place in an extended sort of way.....
in other news...... i might be switching cars. VW for VW. i'll keep you posted. cause you're dying to know.

I wanted a deer..... i got a deer..... kinda.

i've only been hunting twice in my life. i've never had a hunting license, so i just go to spot. you know.... "THERE'S A SQUIRREL!!! SHOOT THE SQUIRREL!!!!" i'll just say that a number of squirrels were shot, solely because of my presence. moving on.....

scott from work talks about hunting, guns and whatnot on a regular basis at work. i mentioned once that i'd only been hunting one time and since then he's been offering that i could go along some time.

it's archery season here in virginia, so i finally took up his offer and went along with he and his son, chance.



nothing crazy happened. i dressed warm, happy to be able my boots. they were in camouflage. we climbed up into a tree stand and waited. and waited. and waited. i'd say we were up there for over 2 hours. as scott said, 'the woods were dead.' we didn't see any animals besides birds the whole time. i wasn't really expecting to see any carnage, but thought i'd be nice if it'd happen. or at least to see something.





once again.... WE SAW NOTHING!!!!

then today, November 11th, my 28th birthday, began.....
it began quite nicely, i might say. mindy called just after midnight to wish me a birthday. then my mom had a birthday cupcake waiting for me when i got upstairs. i left for church, running late for worship team practice.

about 4 minutes after leaving home, i followed the road through some woods, moving at around 45 mph, and right when it was opening up into a field i saw something at my far right and then BANG!!!!! my passenger side window exploded and glass flew all over my car.

i knew right away that it had to be a deer. i was pretty shocked, but slowed down while checking my rear-view mirror and seeing the deer lying in the road. i pulled into the next driveway, cleaned the glass off my clothes and out of my hair, and started walking back down the road towards the 'scene of the attack.'

i guy had been driving behind me and was now coming up the road. he slowed down to ask if i was ok. he said that he had seen the deer coming towards my car and there was pretty much nothing to be done. i was bolting across the road and just had either terrible or wonderful timing, depending on how you look at it. it ended up laying on the road for a few seconds before getting up and running off.





the damage........ passenger side window completely broken and scattered across my car, side mirror broken off with mirror shards throughout the inside of my car, a third of my windshield shattered and knocked in, dents and scratches on the side and front panel of my car, deer hair stuck on the window and door. i think that about cover's it.



so, to rap this up. i sat up a tree in the cold for 2 hours hoping to get a glimpse of a deer and was disappointed. then this morning, one came to me.

Easy....... Fun....... Tasty

I haven't written on here in a long time. i'll be writing more very soon about other interesting things in my life, but first.....

i saw this on the BBC News website and had to check it out.



www.freerice.com is just awesome. you click on a word that best defines the word above. If you get it right, they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. If you get it wrong, you get an easier word. so either way, sometime you're probably going to get a word right. or am i right? or am i right?

I just did it and got to vocab level 33, with 280 grams donated. my brain hurts, so i think i'll come back later and start over. they definitely find some interesting words.

so, enjoy..... learning and helping others.

Where Can I Go With That?

I finally got around to using a day of vacation. It's been about 10 months now that i've been working for Munns Manufacturing. I never wanted to ask for a day off, cause i felt bad leaving the other guys to work overtime. anyhow. i finally decided that the benefits outweighed my negative feelings of leaving the guys hanging.

So i go to my boss and ask how many days of vacation i had saved up, not having taken any days yet. 10 months of work. if you're in Germany you might be thinking something like 4 weeks. that would be acceptable. if you're from the states, you know that's ridiculous.

30 hours. that's right. just 3 of my normal 10 hour days. not a week or maybe even 2. i MIGHT come out of this whole year of work with a week of vacation. that, i might add, includes working mostly 50 hour weeks.

so what can you do in a week of vacation? sorry folks, but i'm not flying to Germany for a week. i'd rather quit work and make it a 2 month trip. a week is nuts. i'll probably just end up using a couple days to make some long weekends, then a super long weekend to go somewhere further away, like the beach or the mountains, or........ probably to lancaster.

why, you may ask, is this such a big deal? i find myself working and dreaming of what i could do with 5 weeks of vacation. why do we work so much and get so little vacation? why are our lives so overshadowed by this work junk? work so much that your vacation is you trying to get back the lost life/energy that was sucked out of you by work. yeah..... i'm exaggerating. :-) but it kinda does feel like that. between the driving, the unpacking, packing and driving, it feels like such a short time to be and enjoy. no 3 weeks........ more like 3 days.

I found this chart online, which got me thinking about this again. finland: 44 , Germany: 35 , USA: 25. ahhhhhhh, but may i point out that germany's 24 minimum paid vacation days are a definite. no ifs, ands or buts. the USA, however, has a cute little footnote thinger. we have no law that sets a minimum amount of paid vacation. so those 15 days that they're counting are an average for employees "with 10 years of service."

I'm enjoying my extended weekend, but can't ignore that little kick in the gut that reminds me what all this work isn't getting me. or....... i guess i'm not so worried about myself. i'll be ok. but my co-workers, working over time to make ends meet and to enjoy those few hours/days that they get to spend with their kids amidst it all, or waiting for friday to drive to their cabin to soak in every minute of escape that they've fought for. i wish they'd get to have a 5 or even 3 week vacation getaway with their families.

i know i'd see a difference in their eyes when they'd get back.

Ein Jahr.

I've been thinking about this for a while..... i left germany and arrived back in the US one year ago.

time flies by... on the one hand it feels like so much has happened/changed since then, yet it's all still so vivid in my mind. i think about germany all the time, day dream about what i miss, talk to myself in german, and just still feel really connected.

three and a half years. that's a long time to spend somewhere. definitely longer than one year.

ganz sicher.

i was planning to write alot more, but i'm just so tired from work today. :-/

Can't Wait to Hear the Star Spangled Banner.

I'm been working at Munns Manufacturing the past 9 months and most days we listen to the WCYK 99.7, a local country radio station. Besides playing the same songs over and over and over again every day, the station also has a creative way of announcing the lunch hour.

When twelve o'clock rolls around, there's a short pause and then it begins..... The Star Spangled Banner
. An accapella men's vocal arrangement signals that i am free to sit down for the wonderful half hour lunch break.

So whether or not i'm a super patriot....... i look forward to hearing the national anthem every day, hopefully as quickly as possible.